How does West Hollywood commute?

Short answer: By driving alone to work for 85% of residents, more than in nearby cities and for people who work here

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How does West Hollywood commute? The car is still our dominant way of getting to work. It’s the commuting mode of choice for an estimated 88% of residents and 83% of people who work here. Most of us in cars are driving alone, though 9% of workers are carpooling. That’s three times more than the 3% of West Hollywood residents who carpool.

The chart below shows the estimates based on the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The most recent results cover 2010 through 2014. You can see the numbers by hovering over or touching each piece.

Note: Excludes people who work at home since they don’t actually commute. Sources: Census Bureau, American Community Survey, 2010-2014, Tables B08006 and B08406; our analysis.

The differences aren’t limited to carpooling. When compared to residents, people who work here are twice as likely to use transit for their commutes (9%). The numbers also suggest they’re more likely to bike to work than residents.

West Hollywood commute choices compared to nearby cities

We wondered whether West Hollywood’s commuting choices were unusual compared to nearby cities. For consistency, we used American Community Survey data for the same 2010-2014 period. We looked at the commuting choices of residents of Beverly Hills, Culver City, Los Angeles, and Santa Monica. We excluded residents who worked at home, since they didn’t actually commute.

The charts below show the comparisons for driving alone, carpooling, transit, and biking. The red bars are for West Hollywood residents, the blue bars are strong comparisons, and the gray bars are weaker comparisons because of the survey’s margin of error.

During this period:

Driving alone to work was more common (85%) among West Hollywood residents than among Santa Monica residents (78%) and Los Angeles residents (71%), and maybe more than Culver City residents and Beverly Hills residents

West Hollywood residents were much less likely to carpool (3%) than residents in all of the nearby cities (5% to 10%) and West Hollywood workers (9%)

Transit was a much more common commuting choice for Los Angeles residents (12%) and people who worked in West Hollywood (9%) than for West Hollywood residents (4%) and residents of the other nearby cities

Biking to work was four times as popular in Santa Monica (4%) — and maybe twice as popular in Culver City (2%) — as it was among West Hollywood residents (1%)

Short answer: By driving alone to work for 85% of residents, more than in nearby cities and for people who work here|
How does West Hollywood commute? The car is still our dominant way of getting to work. It's the commuting mode of choice for an estimated 88% of...

DavidWarrendavid_warren@post.harvard.eduAdministratorWeHo by the Numbers

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reports using data to explore city government policy, performance, and community issues. Focused on West Hollywood (WeHo), Beverly Hills, Culver City, Los Angeles, and Santa Monica. Researched and written by David Warren as a private citizen. This is not a government website.